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Mobile Update For October 17, 2008

Lost in the shuffle of new Macs and T-Mobile's G1 already in the hands of some customers was FCC reporting the feasibility of white spaces to be used as wireless broadband.

And I don't know if devices will be available within the year as a Philips engineer declared, this is great news for all mobile warriors. For the first time, a mean of mass communication will be taken out of the hands of cable companies, wireless providers, and folks who are protecting their own closed networks.

I'm not saying Google, Microsoft, and other members of the White Spaces Coalition will be better caretakers. But at least, the wireless providers have not almost no say in how deployment takes place, what equipments may be used, and how subscribers may use it.

So, we'll keep a close eye on this and report back development as it happens. Here are some links/updates you might be interested in:

CRN reports broadcasters asking for delay and hits FCC over white spaces. More at PC Mag.

Now, regarding interference from white spaces device, that is a real possibility that should not be ignored. However, broadcasters' fear should not stop research from going forward. Perhaps not today but a month from now, a breakthrough may happen. Bottom-line: it's about competition.

Oh again, Macbooks this week (already available) and G1 devices shipping. Just as I predicted, UPS hates me and I won't see mine until next week.

Onxo put together a bunch of review for G1 and Macbooks. Day of Reviews.

Onxo thinks Apple is targeting enterprise users with aluminum Macbooks. But make sure you say "aluminum" the way Jon Ives does it. You'll have to watch the Macbook event to know what I'm talking about.